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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28516701">Beside You</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/hendollana/pseuds/hendollana'>hendollana</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Established Relationship, First Meetings, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 19:54:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,899</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28516701</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/hendollana/pseuds/hendollana</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s two in the morning when Clay tells George he wants them to be more than friends.</p><p>George had never thought about being in a long distance relationship, okay, correction, he had, but he’d never thought it’d stop being a daydream and become reality.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>837</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Beside You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>my assignment for my literal uni degree due tmrw staring at me whilst i write fic for minecraft youtubers :///</p><p>this is semi based on a long distance relationship i had with a guy who lived in america and semi based on a clip of george telling dream not to sleep bc then they'll be out of sync</p><p>(as usual, don't send to george, dream or anyone associated with them, i'm just tryna vibe here)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>George would never claim to have had the best sleeping pattern in the world, as soon as he turned twelve and his mum stopped popping her head round his bedroom door at ten each night to check he was asleep George started staying up late playing Pokemon on his DS. Really, it makes sense that George’s sleeping pattern got even worse when he tediously built his first PC and started paying more attention to gaming than his GCSEs. His sleeping pattern always fit more with the east coast of America than London.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s three in the morning when George meets Clay. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Clay is American and so </span>
  <em>
    <span>funny</span>
  </em>
  <span> and George hasn’t wanted to be friends with someone so much since he was a child. It’s easy to start to merge their sleeping patterns together at first, George is at university and survives on four hours of sleep a day to make it up for his morning classes and Clay does online school so nobody questions why George is awake till four in the morning on TeamSpeak. He doesn’t see his roommates much, but he doesn’t really care, George has only known Clay for a few months and he already knows he’s found the closest friend he’s ever going to have.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>George’s sleeping pattern only really gets worse after he and Clay graduate. It makes sense really, most of George’s friends are American and if they can’t get on to play Minecraft till late evening for George he finds he cares more about spending time with Clay, Nick and Darryl more than he cares about being well rested for work tomorrow. It’s not as if his co-workers are going to ask him why he looks half dead, and even if they did, it’s not as if George is going to tell them he’s practically nocturnal because he’s merged his sleeping pattern to a guy half way across the world that George is becoming more concerned by the day that he’s half in love with.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When their channels start to blow up, when Clay facetimes George positively </span>
  <em>
    <span>grinning</span>
  </em>
  <span> and telling the elder he hit one million subs, George figures his sleeping pattern is for work. His mum calls him one day to check he’s alive because ‘George, it’s five pm and you’ve not answered a single one of my WhatsApps!’, he tells her to think of it as him working the night shift, but instead of George stacking shelves at the big Tesco across the road he’s trying to hunt his best friend down in a video game about blocks. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s two in the morning when Clay tells George he wants them to be more than friends.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>George had never thought about being in a long distance relationship, okay, correction, he </span>
  <em>
    <span>had</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but he’d never thought it’d stop being a daydream and become reality. Except now here he is, telling Clay that he feels the same way and trying to keep his joyful but bordering on overwhelmed laughter quiet as to not wake the neighbours. George sort of figures it won’t be a huge issue though, he and Clay’s sleeping patterns are already pretty in sync and the only thing that being in a relationship changes is that George can stop trying to ignore the butterflies in his stomach whenever they flirt on stream.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>--------------------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Clay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mmhm?” The younger replies.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s one in the morning and they’re on a video call to each other, Clay is leaning back on his chair, hair all mused from where he’d just tugged his hood down and eyes peering into his screen to look at George. The Brit is hit for not the first time with the urge to tell Clay he loves him, he can’t though, they’ve only been dating for two months and George does </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span>  wanna screw this up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I might go to sleep soon.” George replies, sounding as annoyed about it as he feels.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Clay asks, eyebrow raised as he puts down his phone, “How come? Thought you were gonna join me and Nick on stream later?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>George wishes Clay didn’t look so sad, he wishes they lived in the same fucking country. George realises, for the first time, with crashing down reality, that dating someone across the Atlantic Ocean is a lot harder than he thought it would be.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know,” George sighs, knowing he looks just as upset as Clay does, “It’s just, I need to go see my parents tomorrow and they want me over for lunch, and lunch for them isn’t at six pm like it is for me.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>George can see Clay smile a little through the pixels separating them, and George wonders what it would feel like to kiss the smile on his face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, well, that </span>
  <em>
    <span>is </span>
  </em>
  <span>more important than streaming with us.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>George resists the urge to say that it’s not, that nothing is more important to him than spending time with Clay, but he figures that too close to I love you. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry.” George offers instead, sighing a little as Clay shakes his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t be, baby,” Clay whispers, soft as if it’s a secret, “I’m the one that’s fucked up your sleeping pattern anyway, not that I regret it one bit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>George laughs at Clay’s smug look, relaxing his face into a smile when Clay mirrors one back, “I might, um, I might tell my parents about us, if that’s okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The grin on Clay’s face makes up for any nerves fluttering around George’s belly at the prospect of telling his parents he’s in a relationship.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?” Clay inquires, leaning closer to the computer screen as if it makes George closer to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.” George nods, smiling himself stupid now, and trying his best to ignore the dusting of red rising on his cheeks at the way Clay is looking at him, all fond and shit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nervous?” Clay asks, resting his head on his hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>George shrugs, “A little, but I think my mum’s suspected something between us for years at this point.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Clay laughs, “I’d say mine too, but you basically pre-emptively told her months ago that time you phoned her.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was just making it easier for future you,” George giggles, before glancing down at the bottom right of his monitor and seeing the time, “I needa go sleep now, I don’t know if you’ll be up when I tell them but I’ll message you how it goes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>George ignores the way his heart clenches a little when Clay’s smile drops, he never thought he’d be the type of guy to hate to say goodnight to his boyfriend. George had always thought that lovey dovey shit was so cringey growing up, had hated listening to his friends making kissing noises through the phone to their girl of the week, really George had never even been the affectionate type until Clay stormed into his life and demanded him to be with free flowing compliments and long distance yearning.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, you should,” Clay speaks, before pausing for a second and looking nervous in a way that’s all too out of character, “If you want, we can switch to voice call on your phone and stay on call till you fall asleep?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>George can’t ignore the heart palpitations this time, not when Clay is looking at him so earnestly and offering to just silently be on call together to make George feel better. He’s not really sure how much longer he can hold on without saying the dreaded L word.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” George smiles softly, “I’d like that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>-------------------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s five in the morning on a Saturday when George tells Clay he loves him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Admittedly, if Clay hadn’t said it back, George was all too prepared to blame the slip of his tongue on post-orgasm bliss. Instead though, Clay sits up on his chair straighter, and if George wasn’t so freaked out over the fact he’d just told Clay he loves him, he’d have mourned the loss of sight of Clay’s naked chest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>George</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” Clay breathes, like a prayer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I love you too, fuck,” Clay grins, “I love you so much.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You do?” George asks dumbly, dragging his gaze from where his fingers are nervously fiddling with the toggle on his joggies to his computer monitor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, you idiot, of course I do.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Clay is looking at George with fondness, and a smile even bigger than the one Clay had when he hit ten million subscribers and George </span>
  <em>
    <span>wants</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He wants to be sat right next to Clay, close enough to reach his hand over and trace all the lines on Clay’s face, memorise and map his smile until it’s the only thing George can see when he closes his eyes. He wants, but Clay is nearly five thousand miles away and all George can do is want. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s good, then,” George replies, feeling a little shy under Clay’s intense stare, “I wish I’d have told you in person though.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Clay softens a little, but he’s still smiling wide, “Me too, Georgie, soon though, soon you’ll be here with me and I’ll make you say I love you at least twice an hour.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh yeah?” George challenges, “And how do you plan on doing that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, come on,” Clay scoffs, running a hand through his waved hair, “Don’t act like you’re not easy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>George wants to be a little offended, but Clay isn’t even wrong if their activities not even half an hour prior are anything to go by, and George realises with startling clarity that he wants to spend the rest of his life telling Clay how much he loves him, even if it’s over a Discord video call and not in person.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” George rolls his eyes, “But you’re paying for the flights.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine by me!” Clay laughs, as he finishes tugging a black hoodie over his head, “Or I’ll just use your cut of the revenue from the next manhunt.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, no,” George glares, but he doubt it looks that serious when paired with the dumb smile that hasn’t left his face all call, “I just won’t participate in the next one.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wow,” Clay wheezes, “But George, think of the fans! How will they enjoy a manhunt video without me killing you multiple times?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>George is laughing now, probably too loudly for the middle of the night in a multi-storey flat block in London, and he’s so in love it hurts. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----------------------</span>
</p><p>
  <span>George can’t think, it’s too </span>
  <em>
    <span>loud</span>
  </em>
  <span> and all he wants to do is go to sleep but there's construction workers are fitting new windows in the flat next to him and it’s so fucking loud that George wants to cry.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Admittedly, it’s seven in the morning which is probably a socially acceptable time to start noisy work in the middle of a busy city, but George had only stopped streaming an hour ago and he wants to sleep so badly. George figures he’s maybe overreacting a little with the tears pushing against the back of his eyes, but he and Clay had fought earlier and it was so stupid and pointless but George had hung up their call in anger and gone to stream by himself with his Discord and phone on do not disturb. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But now George is so tired, and he still feels raw and upset from his and Clay’s argument and all he wants to do is </span>
  <em>
    <span>sleep</span>
  </em>
  <span>. George knows sleep isn't going to happen anytime soon though, because the noise is barely even reaching its peak, and usually when he can’t sleep he’ll call Clay and they’ll stay up talking way past their usual bedtime. But now, George can’t even phone his fucking boyfriend because he’d picked a fight over Clay flirting with people on the SMP even though George </span>
  <em>
    <span>knows</span>
  </em>
  <span> it’s a joke but sometimes it sucks when your boyfriend is flirting with people who don’t even know he’s taken.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So instead, George is sitting up on his bed, covers drawn tight to his chest with his finger hovering over the call button next to Clay’s name in his contact list. George’s phone starts buzzing in his shaking hand before he can ponder on it too much though, and not for the first time he wonders if Clay can read his mind when he sees who’s caller ID it is phoning him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi?” George answers, and hopes Clay doesn’t notice how small his voice sounds.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, George,” Clay replies, and before George can get another word in, the American is off on a ramble, “Look, I just wanted to phone and say I’m sorry about earlier, you were right. It’d be different if we were out and people other than Nick and Ant knew about us, but I get it, I do, George. I know I can be a bit much, flirting with people meaninglessly, so I am sorry, really. You must know I don't mean it”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s seven in the morning and Clay is apologising for something that isn’t even his fault and George can’t do anything to stop the tear that dribbles miserably down his cheek. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know, s’not your fault.” George sniffles, and he wants to add more, he wants to tell Clay that it’s not a big deal and he’d just been making something out of nothing because he was </span>
  <em>
    <span>jealous </span>
  </em>
  <span>and so tired of not being physically next to Clay</span>
  <span> but George knows that if he opens his mouth anymore a sob is going to creep it’s way past the lump in his throat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“George?” Clay inquires, sounding confused, and for the first time since they started dating George is clad he can’t see Clay’s face, can't see the worry that's almost definitely clouding his green eyes, “Are you mad at me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At this point, George gives up any hopes he had of not crying, because of course Clay, so thoughtful and full of kindness and love, would be worried that George was mad at him when it should be the other way round.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” George whimpers, glad that Clay can’t see him use the sleeve of his sweater to wipe away a tear, “I’m sorry, I was the one being stupid.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>George supposes it’s testament to how well Clay knows him that he picks up so quickly that George is more upset over a silly fight than he usually would be.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay well, we can talk about it if you like?” Clay pushes a little, “Or is there something else wrong?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>George shrugs, not much in the mood for talking before remembering that Clay can’t see him. “No,” George starts, but then the workers start using a drill and George notices that his black out blinds are barely covering the morning sun and he wants just wants to sleep, “Yes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” Clay starts slowly, and George knows he’s planning out the situation in his head, “Wanna tell me? I can see if I can help, baby.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>George can’t help the tiny sob that leaves his mouth, because Clay has every right to be so pissed off at him but instead he’s talking him down from a breakdown over the phone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know, I just,” George speaks, scrubbing his hand a little too harshly on his cheeks when more tears coat them, “You should be mad at me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not though,” Clay says quickly, reassuringly, “Couples fight, it’s fine, it’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>normal</span>
  </em>
  <span>. It sucks even more that we’re long distance and semi-secret, we’re bound to piss each other off sometimes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>George hates himself just a little, for being the elder of the two and not the one maturely sorting out the issue.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t let you explain earlier though, I just hung up.” George whines, and he knows misery is coating his voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Clay sighs, “George, really, it’s fine. I love you, I’m never gonna be mad at you for long.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I love you too,” George sniffs, “So much. Fuck, Clay, I wish you were here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>George wonders how upset he must really sound for Clay to make a noise that sounds heartbroken for George’s sadness.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know, I wish I was too, wanna cuddle the shit out of you.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>George cracks a watery smile, and tries to imagine what it would be like to be pressed against Clay’s chest and drown the sound of hammers out with the beating of the younger's heart.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Soon?” George asks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Soon.” Clay replies.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>-----------------------------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s two thirty in the morning when George’s plane touches down in Florida.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Apart from it’s actually nine thirty in the evening, and George is finally in Clay’s time zone and nearly in his arms, and George wonders if this is what it's like to finally feel like you're in the right place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There’s butterflies dancing around his stomach that feel more like giant moths and George’s hand is slipping off the handle of his suitcase from how nervous he is, but none of it seems to matter when he makes eye contact with Clay from across the arrivals terminal. George is running before he even puts thought into embarrassing himself in public, Clay’s doing the same and they probably look so cliché, two people running towards each other in an airport but suddenly George is enveloped in warmth, and sunshine, and </span>
  <em>
    <span>home, home, home</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>George knows the late nights were all worth it when Clay pulls his face up with a gentle hand on his cheek and kisses him with such love George feels weak in the knees.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hope u enjoyed !!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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